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47BrieF Guide oF TiMiş counTY

LUGOJ

local council office: Lugoj, Vic to rieiSquare, no. 4, telephone 0256/352240, fax0256/350393;Web page address:http://www.primarialugoj.roGeographical coordinates:45°41′10″ lat. n;21°54′ 2″ long. e Historical landmarks:1334 - the existence of Lugoj was men-tioned in the papal tithes registry;1368 - the town of lugas was first men-tioned in documents; 22.08.1376 - a diploma issued by kingSigismund of Louxemburg refers to(castrum lu gas); 1441-1442 - the county head of timiş johnhunyadi fortified the city with trenches, ram-parts and palisades during a campaignagainst the ottoman invasion;1551 - isabella, the widow of king JohnZapo lya, awards Lugoj a diploma grantingprivileged rights and an emblem;1552-1658 - the Banat region of lugoj -caran se beş withstands the ottomanassaults;- the ban of Lugoj supports Michael theBrave in the battle of Şelimbăr, when theWallachian prince defeats the voivode oftran syl va nia, andrew Báthory;1581 - the old testament of orăştie (thefirst romanian-language biblical text,including paragraphs from moses’s books -Genesis and exodus) is translated by theLugoj priest Moise Peştişel; 01.1601 - allegedly, Michael the Bravepulls in at the Post office Inn from Lugoj; 1648 - ştefan Fogaraşi translates a

Calvinistic Catechism, from hungarian intoromanian, paper printed by martin ma ior,and patronized by aca ţiu Bar csai, ban ofLugoj; 1658 - prince acaţiu Barcsai demands thepeople of Lugoj and Caransebeş to surren-der to the ottomans who take over Lugoj,installing a military garrison led by an agha;1660 - the geographer and philosopherevlia celebi writes in his book“Seyahatname” (“The Book of Travels”)that “Lugoj is a strong settlement of over300 houses, on the right bank of timişriver”, stating that the “heathens” areromanians;25.09.1695 - not far from Lugoj, a battlebetween the habsburgs and ottomansunfolds, concluded with the defeat of thefirst; their commander, general Ve te rani,dies during the battle;1699 - the ottomans demolish “the fortressof Lugo j”;1718 - Lugoj falls under the habsburg reignand becomes the seat of Lugoj - făget dis-trict; - Vienna colonizes the city with German po -pulation, leading to the creation of GermanLugoj on the left bank of ti miş river;

Boldea Francisc MayoraMBruş ioan Vice MayorAmzA IoAn, LC member DLPBArBonI IoAn, LC member GrPBînĂ AureLIA, LC member SDPBĂDInA nICu, LC member SDPBLIDArIu ŞtefAn, LC member DLPCorBeAnu GABrIeLA, LC member nLPCoţoLAn VoIChIţA ofeLIA,LC member GrPCrĂCIuneSCu IoSIf, LC member SDP

IVAn DrAGoŞ SeBAStIAn, LC member DLPGAIDoS ALBIn, LC member nLPGALeSCu CrIStIAn PAVeL, LC member SDPILIe roDICA GeorGetA, LC member SDPGârBeA SePtImIu, LC member SDPPoSzAr IoSIf, LC member DuhrSerenDAn ADrIAn, LC member DLPStAnCIu Bujor, LC member DLPSzűCS DIAnA mArIA, LC member DLP

THE CITY HALL AND LOCAL COUNCIL OF LUGOJ

48 BrieF Guide oF TiMiş counTY

LUGOJ

- the residents of German Lugoj are privi-leged, as proven by the fact that, despitethe similar land areas occupied by the twoquarters, old Lugoj and German Lugoj, theromanian community pays an annual taxof 3,746 florins, and the Swabianscolonists pay only 197 flo rins, i.e. almosttwenty times less; 1726 - oberknyaz ioan raţ from mehadiarestores the tower of the old XIVth centurychurch, damaged by fire in 1535 and 1645; 1759 - building of the romanian orthodoxchurch “Assumption of mary” begins - con-cluded in 1766 (“the two towers Church”);1778 - following the incorporation of Banatregion into hungary, Lugoj becomes theseat of Caraş county;1795 - romanian Lugoj and German Lugojare united under the name of “lugoj admin-istrative borough”;XViiith century - the oldest Wallachian-Latin dictionary is drawn up by anonimuslu gosiensis, document discovered byBogdan Pe triceicu Haşdeu;

28 october 1805 - Johann nepo mukPreyer is born, writer, historian and mayor oftimi şoara (d. 12.10.1888);24 december 1824 - Vasile Maniu is born,romanian publicist, historian, writer andlawyer, deputy, member of the romanianAcademy (d. 10.03.1901);1830 - the romanian middle-class fromLugoj creates the revolutionary organiza-tion “The constitution” , promoting theprinciples of the 1789 french revolution;- the organization was discovered by theimperial authorities in 1834, and its mem-bers and leaders were imprisoned;1841 - eftimie Murgu, born in rudăria,Caraş-Severin county, settles in Lu goj;1842 - a great fire affects 400 houses andimportant buildings, among which theAssumption of mary Church, the St. nicholastower and the Greek-Catholic Church;25 april 1843 - botanist au gust Kanitzwas born, corresponding member of theromania Academy since 1882 (d.30.06.1896);

THe lion ToWer FroM BanaT St. nicholas tower (belfry) - of medium height - is one of the old-

est historical structures of Lugoj. It was part of an old church, builtin the XIVth century, but later destroyed (burnt down), in the XVIIIthcentury, following a religious strife. originally, the belfry was alsoused as an observation tower. the St. nicholas tower was restoredin 1726 by the romanian oberknyaz of mehadia, in the baroquestyle of the Banat region (exterior volutes). the original inscription (“pisanie”) on the church facade - where St. nicholas’sembossed portrait is located - was preserved: “AeDIfICAtA hAeCeCLeSIA Per me IoAnnem rAtz De meheDIA SuPremumPrefeCtum InCLItorum DIStrICtum LuGoS, CArAn -SeBeS et LIPPA. Anno DomInI 1726 DIee 19 IunI”, meaning “This church was(re)built by ioan raţ of Mehadia, supreme prefect of the glorious districts oflugoj, caransebeş and lipova. anno domini 1726, day 19 June”. A marble plateembedded in the tower wall holds the carved coat of arms of Banat, the lion of Banatin the middle, topped by the coat of arms of the romanian districts mentioned in theinscription. Although the related church burnt down, an inventory (dated 1775) of thereligious artifacts inside the church still exists, containing items such as different silver,wood, iron or golden plated vessels, coated crosses, two bells, vestments, alsoromanian books, such as a Gospel (1746), a Liturgy book (1767), an Apostle (1743),a Bible (1688), a Legal Code (1652), an octoih (1774), the new testament (1648), allof them printed in Wallachia, which proved the sermon was held in romanian language.It is said the tower was made of wood, in the XIVth century, by the monks frommuntenia, and its stone foundation was built by the oberknyaz Ioan raţ of mehadia inthe XVIIIth century; the names of some of Lugoj’s clergymen, such as protopopespasoe and Petru Popovici, also date back to this century.


LUGOJ

06.1848 - the 2nd Great national Assemblyis held on the field of Liberty, headed byeftimie Murgu, where the romanians fromBanat express their wishes;23 december 1849 - romanian lawyer andpolitician coriolan Brediceanu is born (d.25.01.1909);1850 - Lugoj becomes the seat of theGreek-Catholic Diocese from Banat;1middle of XiXth century - Lugoj has apopulation of 8 373; - the city slowly develops, as ad mi nis -trative, commercial and crafts center;16 october 1863 - aurel c. Popovici isborn, romanian lawyer, publicist and po li ti -cian (d. 9.02.1917);1864 - the alcohol factory is founded;1869 - writer ioan Po po vici Bănă ţeanul isborn; his most famous writing is the shortstory “in the world” (d. 29.08.1893); 2 april 1877 - composer TiberiuBrediceanu is born, (d.19.12.1968);1880 - “the Awakening” (“Deşteptarea”)news paper is published;1881 - the Caraş-Seve rin county is foundedand Lugoj is named the county seat;20 october 1882 - Béla Ferenc dezsőBlaskó (alias Béla lugosi) is born, thefamous Count Dracula actor(d.16.08.1956);1888 - the Arad born composer and conduc-tor ion Vidu begins his career at theConfessional School from Lugoj;- Jakob Muschong and his wife build thefirst Brick factory (“m. Bohn & Comp.”, on10 heren deş tiului str.); 1889 - Lugoj is named munici pality;21 november 1895 - teno r TraianGrozăvescu (Grosăvescu) is born, son ofaccountant Costi Grosăvescu, born in tere -go va (d. 19.02.1927); 16 May 1900 - aurel ciupe is born,romanian painter, emotional and delicatecolourist, director at the Banat museum (d.8.07.1988);1901 - “The Flag” newspaper is published; 1902 - the Iron Bridge and the two customspoints on each end are built; 8 June 1902 - the horse riding championHenri rang is born (d. 25.12.1946);1906 - Valeriu Branişte acknowledges thatalmost 3 000 citizens of Lugoj, mostlycraftsmen and workers, side with the social-ist movement;

13 september 1908 - Georges devereux(Gyõrgy deutch-dobó) is born, founder ofethnopsychoanalysis and ethnopsychiatry(d. 28.05.1985);3 august 1917 - philosopher and historianion dimitrie suciu is born (d. 1982);3.11.1918 - a Great national Assembly isheld in Lugoj, proclaiming the romaniannation’s right to self-determination;1 december 1918 - the elected representa-tives of Lugoj attends the Alba Iulia Greatnational Assembly;9 May 1920 - delia Pia Bârlea is born, play-wright, prose writer and poet in the dialect ofBanat region (d. 17.10.1993); 12.11.1923 - king Ferdinand i visits theromanian orthodox Church, the hospital,the orphanage and the alcohol factory;1925 - Caraş-Severin county is divided inCaraş county, county seat in reşiţa, andSeverin county, county seat in Lugoj;19 February 1926 - composer GyörgyKurtág is born;11 april 1929 - acto r alexan dru iosifTernovits is born;1929 - Walter Mihai Klepper is born, com - poser, violonist, professor (d. 2008);1935 - the union memorial is built in front ofthe former Prefect’s office of Severin coun-ty, created by the transylvanian sculptorradu Moga;1937 - the restoration of the romanianortho dox Church with two towers begins;the present day mural is painted by profes-sor ata na sie demian, and the iconostasisis painted by aurel ciupe;4 april 1938 - aristide Buhoiu is born,journalist and writer (d. 17.09.2006); 9 July 1938 - composer and conductorGelu Mircea stan is born;29 March 1939 - Mircea lăză res cu is born,senior university professor, psychiatrist;1941 - nicolae Bre ban and his family takerefuge in Lugoj (his father was arrested in1940 in transylvania which was underhungarian horthyist occupation);23 February 1941 - ac to r and writer MirceaBelu is born (d. 2002);4.02.1942 - the 40-year celebration of thefoundation of the romanian Craftsmenunion; 22 november 1942 - writer and publicistlucian erwin Bureriu is born;9 January 1943 - dan Floriţa-seracin is


LUGOJ

born, prose writer;14 January 1943 - iosif ştefandrăgulescu is born, former minister ofhealth, former deputy, se nator, rector of“Victor Babeş” university of medicine andPharmacy from ti mi şoara; 14 June 1943 - Traian simu is appointeddirector of Severin County museum; 3 august 1943 - writer cornel ungureanuis born, literary critic and essay writer;27.08.1943 - the Queen mary memorial isassembled in Lugoj (brought from oradea);15 January 1944 - Viorel Toma is born,painter, belle arts professor;29.02. 1944 - opening of the army club ofthe city garrison; 29 June 1944 - iosif Petrică Toma is bornin tapia-Lugoj, singer of popular and choralmusic;11 February 1945 - sculptor constantinGrangure is born;16.02.1945 - thousands of citizens, assem-bled by Communists, militate for a govern-ment led by the romanian Democraticfront; 26 March 1946 - constantin răducanu isborn, painter;1949 - opening of the history museum,comprising the collections initiated in 1905;15.01.1950 - the International Associationof Democratic Lawyers is created;

16.01.1950 - “Constructorul” sports club isestablished;22 May 1951 - poet and prose writerconstantin Buiciuc is born;5 november 1951 - da ni e la ora vi ţan isborn, painter;1951 - more than 500 students attend theVocational School of Arts from Lugoj;28 october 1953 - Vic tor neu mann isborn, historian and philosopher;16 July 1955 - carmen Bla ga is born,litera ry critic, translator;1956 - the radio wire broadcast station fromLugoj accumulated over 2700 broadcastinghours, 120 hours on local issues;2 october 1956 - lia lucia epure (Petric)is born, publicist, PhD, director of the re -gional daily paper “Ziua de Vest“; 14.05.1958 - the Workers’ sports clubfrom lugoj is created, the first of its kind inthe former region of timişoara (Banat); 10.09.1960 - lyric artist dan Patacă is born;16 december 1962 - prose writer and pub-licist cristian nouraş Ghi nea is born;1965 - asMr luGoJ is the first club toenroll the football player Petre Mehedinţu,future captain of “Politehnica timişoara”;22 March 1965 - adriana lucaciu is born,graphic artist, dean of the faculty ofGraphic Arts from timişoara;12.04.1965 - opening of simion lucaciu‘s

THe PosT oFFice inn (PuB)next to the Lugoj post office, one can find the building accommo-

dating the coach station linking Banat and transylvania, and itsstagecoach service (a place where horses were replaced), as well asan inn for travellers. the building, known as the Post office Inn or“Pub”, had been built on the ruins of a XVIth century structure, which- according to the documents - was offered, along with a land area,to George şi Adam fogarassi by the prince of transylvania, mihaiAppafy. the popular stories claim that michael the Brave rested here during his travelto Prague. two hundred years later, the Post office Inn offered shelter to the first rulerof the united Principalities (1859-1862) and of romania (1862-1866), Alexander johnCuza, on his way to exile in Germany. the one-storey building, with stone vaulted foun-dation, has an “L” shaped functional design, with undercrofts, and massive brick arch-ways facing the inner yard. the facade is simple, the window frames have no decora-tions, suggesting a late baroque style. nowadays, the former Post office Inn is theheadquarters of the romanian orthodox eparchy and Parish, and one of the rooms onthe first floor houses an impressive collection of icons, books, religious items and doc-uments regarding the history of Lugoj and Banat, such as a copy of the new testamentprinted in Belgrade (in 1648), Şerban Cantacuzino’s Bible (1688), romanian booksprinted in oltenia, a golden plated cross dated from 1782, a silver manufactured arkdated from 1755, given by the oberknyaz Gavrilă Guran and others.


LUGOJ

painting exhibition at the Vocational Schoolof Arts from Lugoj;2 september 1967 - prose writer TinuPârvulescu is born;13 February 1968 - poet adriana Weimaris born;1969 - daniel Brocea is born (murdered on20 December 1989 in Lugoj by the mApnmaster sergeant Pavel Dumitru). MartyrHero. 1.11.1969 - the 200-year anniversary of theLugoj school building by the oberknyazGavrilă Gurean; 14 July 1969 - elicondiu iovan is born,painter, graphic artist, photographer;16 July 1970 - Mario Balint is born, prosewriter and publicist; 15.01.1971 - Pongracz norbert alexan -dru is born (murdered on 24 December1989 in reşiţa). Martyr Hero. 19 april 1972 - Graţiela Benga is born, li -

terary critic;09.1973 - i. c. drăgan launches his book“Wandering in europe”, at the “Ion Vidu”bookshop, introduced by the literary criticValeriu râpeanu;1974 - Lugoj has a population of 44,000; 21 october 1976 - gymnast la vi niaMiloşovici is born, olympic champion; 20.12. 1989 - Lugoj becomes the 2nd com-munism free city in romania, after ti mi - şoara;after 1990 - western industrial corporations

set up branches in Lugoj: Vi lleroy and Boch,rie ker, Werzalit, ho ney well, Autoliv;20 .06.1990 - the weekly newspaper “There-awakening” is published (editorial di -rec tor Corneliu Popo vici);1991 - the “Iosif Con stantin Dră gan”university is founded;17.08.1994 - the tV station Ten TV-lugojbegins to broadcast;2002 --the city has 46,189 permanent resi-dents;17.06.2007 - ana Mar cu, born in Lugoj be -comes “Miss romania-usa” in Chi ca go;24.01.2009 – the Lugoj military Circle cele-brates nine decades from the creation of the90th Infantry regiment, the first romanianmilitary unit established after December1st, 1918;2010 - the municipal hospital falls under theCity hall admi nis tration; Total population on 1 January 2009:44,796 persons, of which:- male = 21,043 persons- female = 23,753 personsnumber of households on 1 January2009: 17,952Villages administered by the city: măguriand tapia;educational institutions: national Col -leges: Lugoj (2); Vocational Schools = Lugoj(3); “filaret Barbu“ music and Gra phic ArtsSchool from Lugoj; Primary and elementaryschools: Lugoj (7) and măguri;

leGend oF THe oBerKnYaZ Gureanthe romanian orthodox Church “Assumption of mary” (succes-

sor of the XIVth century gothic-byzantine church) is an impressivebuilding: 42 m long, 21.5 m width, and 57 m high, and the entrygates reach up to 3.8 m. the religious establishment was foundedby the oberknyaz Gavrilă Gurean. the believers named it “thetwo towers Church”: the left tower holds three smaller bells, andthe right tower holds two big bells. the shape of the steeples issimilar to the baroque style. one of the bells was brought fromGreece in 1778. this is the church where the famous choir “Ion Vidu” from Lugoj sus-tains a recital on easter day. the building of the “the two towers Church” and its bene-factor are mentioned in a very sad legend. It is told that oberknyaz Gavrilă Gurean hada female servant. While herding the lambs to the pasture, she found a bag of silvercoins. the oberknyaz found out, murdered her and took her money. Later on, Gu reanfound more coins, buried not too deep into the ground, on the same field where the girlherded the lambs. filled with remorse, he donated all the money in 1759 for buildingthe church. the church - sanctified on 28 August 1766 - was painted by Şte fan zu gra -vul - who probably came from Wallachia, the one who also painted jesus Christ wear-ing a romanian popular shirt in the Den suş church from hune doara county...


LUGOJ

Kindergartens with normal hours: Lugoj (9),tapia and măguri; Kindergartens withextended hours = Lugoj (7); Children’s Clubfrom Lugoj; School Sports Club from Lugoj.Medical facilities: hospitals = Lugoj (2);Clinics = Lugoj (4); human pharmacies =Lugoj (15); Veterinary clinics = Lu goj (7);Veterinary pharmacies = Lu goj (4).cultural institutions: the history, ethno -graphy and Art museum; “traian Groză ves -cu“ municipal theatre; the municipality Cul -tural Center; the mu ni ci pal Library (foundedin 1953); “Pro Arte” Gallery; CommunityCentres: măguri and tapia.Fitness and sports facilities: Gymna -siums: (three); Youth Stadium, swimmingpools (two), fitness center (Lugoj); churches: romanian orthodox Churches:the Church “Assumption of mary” (1759);“St. Con stan tine and elena“ Chapel (1883);“resur rec tion of jesus“ Church (2004);

“Pente cost“ Church (in 1991); “St. josephthe new from Partoş“ Church (2002); “St.Archan gels michael and Gabriel“ Chapel(1920); “As sum ption of mary” Chapel(1895); “Birth of mary“ Church from măguri(1936); “Saint Demetrius“ Church fromtapia (1870); the ro ma n-Catholic Church(1733-1735); the Greek-Catholic Church(1843-1854); the re formed Church (1906);the ukrainian Church (1993); the BaptistChurch “harul“ (1992); the PentecostalChurch (1995); the Sy na goga (1843); theevangelical Church; the Seventh-dayAdventist Church; the Lipovan orthodoxold-rite Church;annual church Festivals and other cul-tural events:Lugoj and măguri (15 August - the feast of

the Assumption), tapia (20 july - Saintelijah); the Day of Lugoj (20 December);

THe old iron BridGethe wooden bridge linking the two banks oftimiş in 1901 - right in the middle of Lu go j - de -te riorated. A new bridge was necessary, so themunicipality ordered over 185 tones of beamsand iron fittings from the reşiţa Plant, hauled toLu goj in chariots drawn by four oxen. the offi-cial opening of the bridge took place in Au gust1902, facilitating the transfer between South-east and Western europe and the newstructure became the city’s emblem. the two banks of timiş river have also been re -struc tured. Several decades later, the second bridge crossing the ti miş river was built.the strech of land between the iron and concrete bridges had a promenade like appear-ance. the river banks were fortified with stone bank slopes against flooding, and wereturned into esplanades. the river’s left bank holds the busts of three big city personali-ties: Ion Vidu, Coriolan Bredi cea nu and traian Grozăves cu. the bust of the great tenortraian Gro ză vescu was placed in front of the Popular theater (established in 1842),where Grozăvescu performed on several occasions. the bust of Coriolan Brediceanu -the lawyer of romanians from Banat during the Austrian-hungarian rule - is placed infront of the highschool with the same name.

ciTiZens oF Honournicolae titulescu, Constantin Atanasie Bona, Cornel Petrassevich, Lavinia miloşovici(1992); Gheorghe Afrim (1995); Iosif Constantin Drăgan, mihai Brediceanu, Dan Popescu(1998); Gelu Barbu, Ilie Ilaşcu, Ştefan higyed, Vasile Stoica, I.P.S nicolae Corneanu(1999); Ştefan I. Drăgulescu, Ion Boldea (2000); Anita osterloh (2001); remus Porumb(2002); heinrich Lay, remus taşcău (2003); traian Vuia (postmortem), Silviu orăviţanu(2004); Walter mihai Klepper; florin Paul; Dana Paul Giovaninetti; P. f. Daniel Ciobotea;P. S. S. Alexandru mesian; Aristide Buhoiu (2005); György Kurtág (2006); prof. dr.Constantin octavian Luca, Alina Goreac, mircea Lăzărescu, Vladimir fluture (2007);nicolae Breban; Ioan Cărpineanu (2008), Simion Popescu (2010).


LUGOJ

caruso FroM BanaTtraian Grozăvescu (or Grosăvescu, as written in his birth certificate)

was born on 21 november 1895, in Lugoj, son of Costi Grosăvescu,born in teregova, chief accountant of the “County" office (Prefecture).he was an alumnus of the Lugoj high School, and since the autumn of1914 attended the courses of the Law faculty from Budapest, as wellas the courses of the music Academy. the young man from Lugoj com-pleted his lyric formation at the romanian opera house from Cluj,between 1919 – 1923. he rehearsed with the great artist franz Steiner,and left to Vienna in february 1923, as lead singer of Volksoper. his debut opera was“Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo, alongside jean Athanasiu. his exceptional voice was comparedby the music critics to that of enrico Ca ruso, Leo Slezak or Alfred Piccaver. An emotionalevent took place in December 1926. the tenor was in Berlin - Charlottenburg, where he hada special performance in “Carmen", “tos ca" and “rigoletto". All three performances wererecorded by the Berlin radio station (just created at that same time), while the authorities fromLugoj broadcasted the radio show in the entire city, so everybody was able to listen the voiceof their fellow-citizen.

But tragedy struck while the young tenor was in all his glory, and was famous worldwide:actuated by jealousy, traian Gro ză vescu’s wife, nelly Koveszdy, shot him dead in their fami-ly apartment in Vienna, on 62 Lacher felder stra s se. nelly, the killer wife, was not convicteddue to the Austrian legislation which didn’t punish the crime of passion triggered by jealousy.A “childhood memory” of the writer Viorel marineasa is very interesting: “... my dad made mepart of a dramatic moment (...) He had just bought a lady pistol from someone in lugoj.it was said to be the pistol used by the lover (actually, the wife, a.n.) of TraianGrozăvescu to kill him. out of jealousy. My dad asked what he should do with that pis-

tol. He suggested to get rid of it, because, should some-one find out, he would get sent to prison. He wrappedthe pistol in a bag and threw it in the Mureş river afternightfall.” In 1957, Lalelelor street from Lugoj becametraian Grozăvescu street. A memorial plate bearing hisbronze effigy was attached to the house the great artistgrew in; the following inscription can be read: "this is thehouse where tenor traian Groză vescu grew, an artist who’svoice raised the country’s fame, winning an honorable placeamongst the world’s singers".

“Traian Grozăvescu”

Municipal Theater

Béla Ferenc deZsŐ BlasKÓ, “THe VaMPire” FroM luGoJ

he was the fourth son of a baker from Lugoj, born in 1882. Atthe age of 12 he left home, and traveled to reşiţa to work as aminer, and later on to Subotiča railways, in the Serbian Banat. hejoined the Popular theater choir, and then traveled to timi şoara,to become actor of the franz josef theatre. In 1910 he was anactor in Se ghedin, then in Budapest, where he played in his firstmovies under the alias of Arisztid. Lugosi performed brilliantly ashamlet or jesus on the Budapest theatrical scene. his public lifewas characterized by his strong left wing convictions. Béla fromLugoj became a true communist leader in the hungarian capital:he was a member of the far left wing government of Béla Kuhn -later on overthrown by he romanian troops, on france’s advice, in 1919. that was the rea-son for Lugosi’s leaving to Ger many, and in 1921 he immigrated to new York. In 1929, filmdirector tod Browning invited him to the mGm film studios, to shoot “Dracula”.


LUGOJ

that was the beginning of the most glorious period of actor Béla Lugosi, who played therole of fierce count of transylvania for 25 years. that was the role which, “dressed in a vam-pire suit, mysterious, seductive, terrifying”, provided him a fulminant entry in hollywood;he became an actual sex-symbol, “having a bigger influ-ence in the society of those times than clark Gable”, asfilm critic Lu ci an maier said. the same critic acknowledgedthe similarly spectacular downfall of Béla Lugosi’s career:“the other part of Lugosi’s life, the fall from the stars, is just asviable for the spectators, because it induces compassion.excessive repetition, by playing Dracula in all and every cine-matic appearance, leads to a lack of subtlety and refinement.At the peak of his career, Lugosi slowly undermines his star-dom due to its stubbornness not to accept other roles, proba-bly less demanding in terms of composition, which provided agreat success for Boris Karloff. he ends up playing Dracula insecond hand, low budget features. Since the life of a sex-sym-bol is expensive, his earnings were quickly drained.” he diedon 16 August 1956.

In 2007, florin Iepan, film director from timişoara, finished a documentary film on the lifeand career of Béla Lugosi: “From Jesus to lenin, but forever dracula - Bela lugosi/ TheFallen Vampire”; he was supported by the film maker István Sza bó.

uniVersiTY Founderthe founder of Butan Gas, nagard Publishing house and of

“Drăgan” european university was born on 20 june 1917, inLugoj - in the family of a wealthy tanner. he graduated from LawSchool at the university of Bucharest. he joined the romanianArmy between 1939 - 1940, in the auxiliary service, where hewas assigned the position of military prosecutor. he gotreleased from the army on 16 january 1940. he moved to Italyon 24 january 1940 after earning a scholarship from the Italiangovernment. Drăgan earned his second PhD in jurisprudenceand Political and economical Sciences at the university ofrome, where he sustained his doctoral dissertation.

In 1941 he began his business, exporting romanian petroleum to Italy. In 1948 he estab-lished the company Butan Gas S.p.A., specialized in the distribution of liquefied petroleumgas, and half of century later Drăgan was the first in the “top 300” wealthiest romaniansaccording to the romanian magazine “Capital” (2002-2003-2004 and 2006). In 1967, hestarted the "european foundation Drăgan" in Italy. he was the founder of the Italian-romanian Chamber of Commerce, founder of na gard Publishing house in Italy, and europanova Publishing house in romania. he founded Drăgan european university (1991) inromania, with branches in Lugoj, his home town, and in Braşov.

Drăgan wrote several papers, published in romanian and other languages, such as “theWorld mission of the In ternational mar keting fede ra tion”, “Geocli mate and history, en tropyand Bio eco nomics”, “history of romanian People”, “An tonescu-marshal and ruler of ro ma -nia”, “La vera storia dei romeni”, “the roman-thracian empire), “Au service de l’europe”,“Wandering in europe”, “Dal Paese di Dra cula”, “La mia Italia” etc. During his career he wasawarded several titles: Cavaliere di Gran Croce al merito della repubblica Italiana (the high-est Italian honor), the Golden Cross of George I order (Greece), the Golden medal ofeuropean merit (Lu xembourg), the european Award Lorenzo il magnifico (AIm, flo rence)etc. he was awarded the title Doctor honoris Causa of university from Cra io va and ti mi -şoara and the title honorary citizen of Lugoj and Cluj-napoca. Professor Iosif ConstantinDrăgan died in Palma de mallorca, Spa in, in his home, at the age of 91, and was buried on25 August 2008 in his hometown, Lugoj.


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ioan BĂlan, THe MarTYr BisHoPthe town square bearing the name of Iosif Con stantin Drăgan is located between the Iron

Bridge and the City hall, tangent to the metropolitan Andrei Şa guna street. After therevolution, the square became the celebration place of the “Day of Lugoj”, which takes placeeach year on 20 De cember, honoring that day of December 1989 on which Lugoj became thesecond free town in romania, after timişoara.

the main point of interest of the square is the Greek-Catholic Church “Pentecost”, part ofthe Lugoj diocese, a classic style building raised between 1843 - 1854. Lugoj was the seat ofa Greek-Catholic Diocese established by papal Bull “Apos tolicum mini sterium” issued in1853, by splitting several eparchies belonging to the făgăraş and ora dia eparchy. Alongsidethe church from the I.C. Drăgan Square (the former business man was of Greek-Catholic reli-gion), the Greek-Catholic Diocese of Lugoj included a confessional school, which later onturned into a theological school.

Some of the most celebrated Greek-Catholicbishops of Lugoj were bishop dr. Ale xan drunicolescu and bishop Ioan Bă lan. During thefirst world war, between 1914-1918, Bishopnico lescu refused to sign the Declaration ofLoyalty towards the Austro-hungarian empire,consequently he was declared a traitor by theauthorities in Vienna and Budapest!

following the Great union of 1 December1918, Alexandru nicolescu was elected bish-

op of Lugoj in 1922. he was appointed senator for life of theromanian Parliament. After thirteen years as bishop of Lugoj, inmay 1935 he was elected metropolitan of the romanian unitedChurch, established in Blaj. As a member of the Crown Council ofking Charles II he refused to sign the Second Vienna Award re-assigning the territory of northern transylvania from romania tohungary. In november 1936, in Blaj, Ioan Bălan was appointedbishop of Lugoj, while bishop dr. Alex an dru nicolescu wasappointed metropolitan Bishop.

Bishop Ioan Bălan refused to convertto orthodoxism and was arrested on 28october 1948. he was deported to Dra -goslavele orthodox monastery, and thento Căl dă ru şani orthodox monas tery(1949). Since may 1950 he had been aninmate of the Penitentiary from Sighe tul

mar maţiei (see right photo, found in his secret Police file), lateron placed under home arrest at Curtea de Ar geş monastery (1955).In 1956 he was transferred to the orthodox monastery for nuns ofCiorogârla (near Bucharest), where he lived in complete isolation until the end of his life. hefell ill and died on 4 August 1959. he was buried in Bellu catholic cemetery from Bucharest.Briefly: the tragic story of a martyr of the romanian Church united with rome: bishop IoanBălan of Lugoj.

The Greek-Catholic

Church

Bishop Ioan Bălan

Bredicenii from lugoj, boyar family from GorjBy far, the “pillar” of the famous Brediceanu family from Lugoj was coriolan Bre di cea nu

(23 December 1849 - 25 january 1909), romanian lawyer and politician. he was born inLugoj, the son of a soap maker, Vasile Brediceanu. his father was the son of Ion Bredi ce a nufrom Boldur and grandson of George Brediceanu, a boyar originating from oltenia who set-tled in Banat after the treaty of Bel grade in 1739, which ended the habsburg rule over


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ol te nia, and re-assigned it to the ottomans. Geor ge Bre diceanu, who originated from a boyarfamily loyal to the Austrians, was born in the village of Bră di ceni - Gorj. in 1749 he sent a peti-tion written in Latin to maria therezia, requesting “a small job”, so he could afford his dailymeal, similar to the job he had in Wallachia (as “plăieş” or “scăunaş”). the empress grantedhis request. “We have George Bre diceanu to thank for bringing the romanian enthusiasmand passion into Banat, inherited by his offsprings who fought for the existence of ourromanian nation. his son, Ioan, from the village of Boldur, moved to Lugoj, where hisdescendant Vasile is raised, the father of Coriolan Brediceanu, the great fighter for the rightsof romanians from Banat and transylvania. his sons are Caius, former romanian diplomat,and t iberiu, famous folklorist and composer...”, dr. Gheorghe Gâr du writes in his paper “Thefirst documents listing Brădi ceni-Gorj”.

Coriolan Brediceanu attended the high school from Be -iuş, and the Law faculty of the university from Budapest.he earned a PhD in law in 1874. member of the CentralCommittee of the romanian national Party (1881-1892),de pu ty of oraviţa in the hungarian Diet, Coriolan Bre di -cea nu defended romanian politicians and newspapersfrom hungary and trans ylvania during the trials initiatedby the Austro-hungarian authorities. that was the case in1896, when he defended the villagers from me ha dia, orthe miners from Ci clo va montană, Caraş, oppressed bythe hungarian authorities. In 1895, in ti mi şoara, Corio lanBre diceanu defends Valeriu Branişte, scholar, founder(1894) and editor of “The Justice“ newspaper fromtimişoara. Branişte frequently attacked the anti-romanianpolicy of the Budapest government in his newspaper, somore than 70 suits were filed against him. Despite Co rio -lan Brediceanu’s defence, Va leriu Branişte was convictedto two years in prison, but Coriolan paid the 5,000 florinsbail. thanks to his nationalist attitude, in 1906 Brediceanuwas elected representative of the romanian people fromBanat in the hungarian Diet, in two electing districts.Bredi ceanu also supported another brilliant romanian from Banat, traian Vuia, who laterbecame the inventor of the first romanian aircraft.

Coriolan, the most important member of the Brediceanu family, had three descendants.Tiberiu Bredi cea nu studied music at a high school from Blaj, but he graduated the law

“Coriolan Brediceanu”

High School


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school from Cluj. he was the founding member of the nationaltheater, the music university and the romanian opera fromCluj, whose director he became later on. he was a great admir-er of the romanian folklore and he recorded over 2,000 folksongs, mainly from Banat and ma ra mureş.

tiberiu’s son, Mihai Bredi -ceanu, born on 14 june 1920 inBraşov, was a respected compos-er, conductor, musicologist. hestudied piano at the Braşov Con -servatory, and music theory, com-position and conducting at themusic Academy from Bucharest.he also studied Law and mathe -matics. he was general director ofthe national opera from Bucha -

rest (1959-1966). he was awarded the folklore award of theromanian Composers Associ ation (1925), the national Awardfor music (1927). master emeritus of Art (1956), People’s Artist(1957), the order of La bour, I class (1956), the order "theCultural merit", I class (1967). he died on 4 march 2005.

caius Bredi cea nu, the second son of Coriolan, was a politician anddiplomat, appointed expert on ethnographic and geographic issues of theromanian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, after World War I.just like his predecessors, he promoted the rights of the romanians fromBanat during his mandate as a deputy in the Budapest Parliament in 1906,1907, 1908. he received his PhD in Law and Political Sciences in Vienna,in 1909, and practiced law in Budapest. he was a major figure of theromanian national Party. After 1 December 1918 he was elected secre-tary general for external Affairs of the transylvanian ProvisionalGovernment (“Consiliul Dirigent”), and was elected deputy in theParliament of the new united romania, in 1919.

for a short period of time Caius Brediceanu was appointed minister ofstate (17.12.1921-17.01.1922), the first person from Banat to reach suchan important position in Bucharest). he then entered the diplomatic corps,

and carried through several missions in Brasil, Ar genti na, Aus tria, fin land or V a tican.the daughter of Coriolan, cornelia Bre dicea nu, was the wife

of the great poet and philosopher lucian Blaga. their daughter,dorli Blaga (photo, bottom), described her mother Cornelia:“she was a beautiful, confident woman. elegant, yet sober.Fashionable, with short hair and short skirts, refined andstylish.”

Cornelia Bre di cea nu followed a medical career. After the fami-ly moved to Lugoj, on 4 făgetului street, in 1924 she opened herown dental cabinet. Consequently, Lu cian Bla ga used to namehis wife “dr. c. Brediceanu, the dentist archangel“, while Dorliused to say: “My mother makes a good living”, soothing herfather’s anger for not obtaining a job at the university from Cluj.Dorli Blaga would marry the sociologist, philologist and publicistTudor Bug na riu, who was elected mayor of Cluj after 23 August1944.

that is why the popular verses below honour the great Brediceanu family: “nobody com-pares to the people from Banat, no man from Banat compares to the people fromlugoj, no man from lugoj compares to the Brediceanu family!”.

Tiberiu Brediceanu

Mihai Brediceanu

Caius

Brediceanu


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THe silVer Horse rider

Henri rang was born on 8 june 1902, inLugoj. he followed a military career, andgraduated the School of Cavalry officersfrom târgovişte. he enrolled in several cav-alry regiments, and then in the officer corpsof the School of Cavalry officers. After thesecond world war he was in office in the re -giment no.1 ro şiori from Lugoj.

he had a spectacular sports career.Between 1932 and 1938, the athlete fromBanat and his horse “Delfis” won severalmedals at the equestrian competitions fromParis, nice, Berlin, Warsaw and London. themost important event he attended as aromanian contender, was the Summerolympic Games from Berlin, in 1936, in theindividual jumping and dressage competi-tions. the individual jumping competitiongathered 54 competitors from 18 countries.henri rang and his horse “Delfis” won the sil-ver medal in the final, coming in second afterthe representative of the hosting country,Kurt hasse and his horse “tora”.

that was the first olympic silver medal wonby ro mania. the special event was ack -nowledged in “the Sports Gazette” by pro-fessor Camil mo ţun special correspondent tothe olympic Games: “... i must confessthat at particular mo ments i experien ceda completely new feeling. i lookedaround and it felt like everybody else wasfeeling the same emotion and warmth. it

felt like everybody was lo oking at me dif-ferently , that i was no longer a simpleface in the crowd. In 1936, lieutenant henri rang and his horse“Delfis” attended several competitionstogether with the “golden” equestrian team of

the ro manian Ar -my (alongside Fe -lix Ţo pes cu andTo ma Tudoran, )and won multiplena tional and inter-national events inthe League of na -tions Calendar. In1937, rang wonThe Golden chal - lenge cup and thetitle of militaryWorld Champion,when he succeed-ed a 2.14 m highjump at the Lon -don equestrian event occasioned by thecoronation ceremony of king George VI.Another important trophy of the Cup, dailyMirror Trophy (granted by the newspaper)was awarded to the romanian horse riderFelix Ţopescu, father of the famous sports-caster cristian Ţopescu. During the sameyear, 1937, lieutenant henri rang received“The national sports award”, for: "themultiple successful triumphs abroad, andfor raising the romanian flag on theolympic pole during the Berlin olympicsin 1936.” the champion’s nephew, cătălin Petrerang (68 years old) has an interesting storyabout the participation of the romanianequestrian team (formed of henri rang,toma tudoran and Constantin Apostol) tothe Berlin olympics, which he unveiled to thesports journalist Io¬nuţ Curea. the storysays that the horse of one of our team mem-bers, toma tudoran, slipped before anobstacle which it took down, then jumpedwithout the obstacle being repaired. the jury,instead of downgrading tudoran, disqualifiedthe entire romanian team, which would havewon the olympic gold medal, even after thedowngrading. In order to make up for thejury’s abuse, the chancellor of nazi Ger ma -ny, hitler, gave henri rang a zundapp mo -torcycle with sidecar, which was then worthal most as much as a motor car. this motorcycle was the cause of his death:

rang was speeding on the streets of Iaşi andhad a terrible accident, which confined him tobed for the rest of his life. he died at 44, onChristmas: 25 December 1946.

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